Reverse Flash: Fastest Man Alive!
by KillWilson
Summary: Eobard Thawne has cheated death more often than any speedster. But when he learns that his permanent death is imminent, what will he do to save himself? Who will he work with? AU as of Legacy (s5e22)
1. Chapter 1

Hello world! So, this is my first Flash story. After finishing the finale, this story kind of popped into my head. I hope you enjoy it. Reviews are appreciated, even constructive criticism.

* * *

Reverse Flash: Fastest Man Alive!

Summary: Eobard Thawne has cheated death more often than any speedster. But when he learns that his permanent death is imminent, what will he do to save himself? Who will he work with? AU as of Legacy (s5e22)

Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash or the Tornado Twins would have been featured in season 5 instead of Nora.

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Chapter 1

…

Eobard Thawne surveyed his new home. It was a simple laboratory that was once a storage building of S.T.A.R. Labs before the crisis.

Eobard checked his watch. He was mildly interested in knowing what year he had managed to travel to.

_2084_

Hmm. Interesting. This was as far as Thawne had ever been able to travel forwards. Hs long-lost home of 2171 Central City was beyond his reach. Even if the Negative Speed Force would allow him to travel that far, the many changes to the timeline would have rendered it unrecognizable. Was it ruled and/or destroyed by Vandal Savage? Did the Legendary idiots ruin it with their many mistakes in time travel? Honestly, who knew. But Thawne's home was long gone.

Thawne rubbed the chin strap of his Reverse-Flash suit thoughtfully. To go home. That had been his motivation for so long. Even when he had worked with Damien and Malcolm, his ultimate goal was to destroy the black speedster and recreate the reality of 2171 that he was from.

Lately, Thawne's time in prison had given him the ability to think back to his recent adventures. His travels throughout the past as leader of the Legion of Doom, working temporarily with Team Flash, torturing them as the Man in Yellow, living in the Flashpoint reality for three months, travelling to Earth-X and working with the New Reich, and even the 15 year gap he'd spent unpleasantly imprisoned in 2049.

Thawne was a changed man. How could he not be? All of these experiences and trials had destroyed the impulsive young speedster that had travelled back in time to learn from his hero, the Flash, and then to kill the Flash's mother.

Thawne wasn't sure that the few friends and family he had back home would even recognize him, especially with the Wells persona he had grown so fond of.

Ahh. Harrison Wells. A true genius on Earth-One, or at least he had been in Thawne's timeline. In fact, Thawne had recently used his time in prison to track his family tree and had pleasantly discovered that Eddie Thawne's grandson Elijah had married Crystal Wells, Harrison's granddaughter. Perhaps that was why Thawne felt he was in tune with Wells' and his personalities across the Multiverse. They were family.

Family. Thawne didn't consider many people from his own time as family, but there were a handful of people from the past that he rightly considered his children.

Cisco Ramone, for example. Vibe. Thawne had considered Cisco a son, much as he had considered Nora West-Allen, his little runner, a daughter.

Nora. She was gone. Flash had not taken his advice and brought his daughter into the Negative Speed Force, which would've shielded her from the timeline changes, just as it constantly shielded Thawne. She was beyond their reach forever now.

Thawne scowled. One more mistake of the Flash for everyone else to pay for. How appropriate. Thawne knew that the Flash's world would be getting rockier now. His meddling with the timeline to remove Cicada's dagger had accelerated the start of the crisis that would finally free Thawne of the Flash's influence forever.

Perhaps the event would revive Thawne's world, and maybe remove the speedster that was hunting him from it. Or maybe Thawne and his Negative Speed Force would be removed from the Multiverse altogether.

Thawne snapped himself out of his musings. He had just erased Nora West-Allen from the timeline, which meant that Barry Allen would be actively hunting him from the timeline. Which meant he needed to be prepared. There were six months to go until the crisis would distract the Flash, which meant there would be plenty of time for Barry to come hunting for him.

Thawne sped around the room, enjoying that he was free to use his speed again. The red lightning stirred up all of the dust in the room, as Thawne began reactivating the power and turning on computer after computer terminal. He quickly built a simple tachyon sleeping capsule to help charge up the Negative Speed Force in his cells while he slept.

Thawne also quickly slapped together an access terminal for Gideon, the A.I. he had stolen from the future Flash.

"_Hello, Professor Thawne."_ She greeted with a monotone. _"It has been a long time. Much has changed."_

Thawne pulled down his mask and smiled fondly at the familiar voice of Gideon.

"Indeed, it has, Gideon." He responded softly. He quickly set up an image display at the terminal, and loudly commanded, "Show me the timeline changes as of May 2019, Gideon."

Thawne watched as several pictures flashed by of the Crisis that was now going to happen five years earlier than originally intended. He saw the fiery skies and the bloody oceans that many had believed signified the end of their world.

But instead, the world hadn't ended. It had been saved by Supergirl and her more experience cousin, by the Green Arrow and the Black Canary and the Flash and other superheroes. The Flash and Supergirl would sacrifice their lives to bring this hellish nightmare to a close. He Reverse-Flash, too, would participate, and it was then that he would go back in time to murder young Barry to save himself from the Flash's rampage. But instead, Thawne had murdered Nora in the place of young Barry and the future Flash would return to the crisis after saving himself to help save Oliver Queen and lose his life in the process.

Thawne frowned uncertainly as he saw that the entire events of the Crisis had changed now.

Instead, Oliver Queen and the Superman from Kara's Earth would be killed by the Anti-Monitor, and The Flash would finally kill his greatest enemy. Thawne was destined to die in this Crisis now, as a result of his own meddling with the timeline.

Thawne gnashed his teeth together and raged around the room, destroying old S.T.A.R. Labs equipment and making a mess of his new temporary lair. It was no good. No matter how many times he manipulated and pulled and pushed on the timestream, he couldn't seem to get to a satisfactory output.

Thawne grinned wryly as he realized his little runner would be proud of herself. She had somehow saved her father after all. But as a direct result, Thawne himself would die.

Thawne scratched his chin. He had wrangled himself out of worse fates. Hell, he had been seconds away from dying just mere hours ago until his plan to save himself took effect. He'd find a way out of this, too. He had six chronological months until his demise. At least he wouldn't have to worry about planning fifteen years in advance anymore.

So, how to free himself from this little problem? After all, he didn't want to die. He wanted to live.

Thawne realized there was only one person who knew enough about the coming Crisis to help him avert his imminent death. Mar Novu, the Monitor.

"Gideon." Thawne whispered.

"_Yes, Dr. Wells?" _Gideon asked cheekily, referring to the Wells face Thawne was currently sporting.

"Show me occurrences in the past where the Monitor was spotted." Thawne continued, ignoring the jab.

Images flew by of the Crisis and the months that followed. The Monitor appeared annually once a month in the year that followed after the Crisis, before his appearances seemingly ceased until the year 2040, where satellites caught him escorting the vigilante Felicity Smoak to regions unknown through a portal. One last image flew by of Mar Novu appearing in the year 2084 just outside of the S.T.A.R. Labs facility that Thawne was occupying before Thawne heard someone clear their throat behind him.

Thawne turned to find Mar Novu staring at him.

"Well, Professor Zoom?" The Monitor asked mockingly. "I sensed you searching for me. Here I am."

…

Thawne gazed warily at the Monitor.

"You sensed me?" He asked with curiosity burning. "How?"

"Because I can." The Monitor answered simply. "Do not waste my time. Why are you searching for me?"

Thawne licked his dried-up lips. "I wanted to know if you could, um, reverse my fate in the coming Crisis."

"No." Mar Novu retorted quickly.

Thawne took a threatening step forward. "No?" He asked carefully.

"No." Novu curtly repeated. 'I've already agreed to maintain universal balance by sparing the Flash and Supergirl in exchange for the Green Arrow's life, but a speedster must die in the Crisis. You and the Flash are the only speedster participants."

Thawne raised his hand threateningly, and red lightning flashed as it started vibrating.

"Do you know who I am?" Thawne whispered menacingly.

"Eobard Thawne." The Monitor responded, his face expressing boredom. "The Reverse-Flash. Professor Zoom. Harrison Wells. It doesn't matter. Unless another Speedster seemingly appear in the Crisis and take your place in the fight against the Flash and Supergirl, you, Eobard Thawne, will die in six months."

The Monitor raised his hands, and Thawne felt himself rising far into the air slowly. Suddenly, he was dropped back onto the floor below, and he felt his leg break. Thawne cried out in pain. He felt his Speedster cells already working to repair his bones and muscle.

"If you dare to threaten me again, Eobard Thawne, I will grant your request and prevent you from dying in the coming Crisis by scrubbing you from every timeline in every alternate Earth in an instance." The Monitor glowered. "You have already saved yourself from death more times than can be counted, but this is a fate you will not avoid, Professor Zoom. Your own choices have led you to this outcome."

The Monitor turned and walked away from Thawne. His speech had struck Thawne speechless. This all-powerful being seemed bent on Thawne's destruction. Why?

The Monitor turned and told Thawne, "You are lucky I didn't kill you. Farewell, Eobard Thawne. I wish you the best of fortune in the adventures to come."

A portal opened up, and the Monitor stepped through, leaving a broken Reverse-Flash lying on the ground.

…

A few hours later, Thawne broke the makeshift brace he had put around his leg. Good as new. Thank God for speedster healing.

Thawne was frustrated. Surely the Monitor was wrong. There had to be a way to avoid his death in the Crisis.

The Monitor had said something about a Speedster needing to die in the Crisis. Allen was safe thanks to Mar Novu, and Thawne was the only other Speedster left. But what if he wasn't? What if Thawne had allied himself with another Speedster?

Thawne smiled slowly. Of course. If Thawne had a Speedster ally, then the ally could die in the place of Thawne himself. Finding out exactly how he dies would be critical. Thawne carefully checked articles about the incident from the Central City Citizen and other news sites and papers and found nothing detailing his demise. Damn.

Perhaps Thawne could find out another way. But that would have to wait. He needed to find a Speedster to align himself with and time to build a relationship with the new speedster. Time was not on Thawne's side. He had six months.

But Thawne had worked against the clock before. After all, time was no real obstacle for speedsters.

Thawne climbed out of the tachyon capsule and booted up Gideon.

"_Yes, Dr. Wells?"_ Gideon asked patiently.

"Give me the records of all the speedsters who lived at the time of the Crisis and survived." Thawne commanded, equally patient.

As image after image of speedsters from different worlds appeared, Thawne smiled. He'd find a suitable ally, and let that speedster die in place of himself. The Reverse-Flash would find a way to cheat death once more, no matter the cost to everyone around him.

…

Hours later, Thawne wearily rubbed his eyes as he gazed at the shortlist of potential speedster allies that he and Gideon had accumulated. There were more than a few front runners, as he and Gideon had decided to open up the time requirement of the Speedster. After all, Thawne could just pull that Speedster from the past if the speedster showed potential.

There were also some positives to selecting a speedster from a different time period. After all, the speedster could be facing a similarly horrible threat and would owe their lives to the Reverse-Flash. It would also give Thawne a potential threat to keep said speedster in line.

Perhaps pulling a speedster from the timeline could also benefit Thawne's own timeline for the better. The butterfly affect could be just what Thawne needs to save his own life.

Thawne shuffled through the shortlist and finally settled on one of the candidates. He smiled wryly and set the paper down on Gideon's console. Deactivating the A.I. for the night, he went to sleep inside his capsule, being sure to eat and prepare himself for the long days to come.

As the capsule closed on Thawne, a light reflected on the candidate's rap sheet, revealing the candidate's name and the time period in which Thawne intended to travel.

_Hunter Zolomon, 2015_

…

…

…To Be Continued?


	2. Chapter 2

Alright, so now we get to see Thawne attempt to find a new speedster to work with in the Crisis to prevent his own death.

Enjoy :)

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Reverse Flash: Fastest Man Alive!

Summary: Eobard Thawne has cheated death more often than any speedster. But when he learns that his permanent death is imminent, what will he do to save himself? Who will he work with? AU as of Legacy (s5e22)

Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash or the Tornado Twins would have been featured in season 5 instead of Nora.

* * *

Chapter 2

…

Zolomon ran around Central City in search of the Flash. Just a few mere hours ago, a portal had opened up above him back on his own world and he had lost his father's winged cap by accident.

Of course, Zolomon was interested in retrieving the cap. But he had sworn he'd seen speedster lightning in the skies above him. He'd discarded his Zoom suit and taken a makeshift Jay Garrick Flash suit. Better to draw the least attention that he could possible.

There it was! Orangeish-yellow speedster lightning. Zolomon followed, slowing himself down and staying far enough behind the other speedster to ensure he wasn't noticed. It was nighttime, which made it harder to hide since his blue lightning was so much more visible.

Zolomon followed the Flash all the way to a facility called S.T.A.R. Labs. There, Zolomon phased through walls and stooped until he was in a hiding position behind a desk.

There was a crowd of people in the room. There was an older fellow with a black hat on and a police badge in full view on his belt, a young man with flowing black hair, and an attractive woman with brown hair and heartbroken eyes.

"Ronnie?" She asked the other speedster, tears flowing down her face. The Flash pulled down his mask, revealing a young man brown hair and sad eyes.

"I'm sorry, Caitlyn." The Flash said. "I couldn't stop…I couldn't save him, too." The Flash pulled the attractive woman into a hug, and Zolomon wondered if there was romance there. Eventually, Zolomon decided it was simply a brother-sister relationship.

"What do we do now?" The older fellow asked. "The other metas would have taken advantage of the chaos, and people will be running scared, right into the line of fire."

"Team Flash can take care of it." The young man with flowing hair answered confidently.

There was a brief silence, and the Flash and Caitlyn broke out of their hug.

"No." The Flash answered curtly. "No we can't, Cisco, because there is no more Team Flash."

"Barry, what are you talking about?" The older fellow asked.

_Barry!_ Zolomon thought to himself. The Flash's name was Barry.

"-we failedthis city." The Flash was saying.

"That's not your line." The man named Cisco muttered.

"Cisco!" The Flash reprimanded. "Thawne opened up a black hole in the city, and we couldn't stop him."

"We'll figure out a way." Caitlyn protested. "When Stein wakes up we can find a way-"

"No." Flash cut her off. "I'm sorry, guys. Team Flash is done." The Flash sped off, and the others gave each other meaningful looks.

"Well this sucks." Cisco said. "Looks like I better polish up my resume. I hope blowing up the city doesn't turn anybody off."

"He'll come to his senses, guys." The older fellow said confidently. He put an arm around Caitlyn and said. "He just needs his space right now. Come on. The CCPD could probably use our help." The group left the room, and after waiting a moment to make sure they were truly gone, Zolomon came out of hiding and sped around the Cortex, looking for information to help him understand where was.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Zolomon saw red lightning flash by in the passage leading away from the Cortex. Zolomon sped after it and saw a yellow glimmer as yet anther speedster phased through the wall.

Zolomon followed and entered some sort of chamber where the walls looked as if they were covered in braille. Zolomon saw his opponent at the other end of the room. The Speedster was vibrating so that Zolomon could not discern his features, but he was wearing a yellow suit similar to the other speedster from the Cortex.

"And who are you?" Zolomon demanded.

The Man in the Yellow Suit stopped vibrating and pulled down his mask. It was Harrison Wells.

"Wells." Growled Zolomon.

The Wells Speedster smiled and shook his head.

"No." Thawne said, his voice a gravelly whisper. "I am not the Wells that you know from your world. This face you might know, but I am just borrowing it. The two of us have never been introduced."

"My name is Eobard Thawne." The Man in the Yellow Suit finished.

"Never heard of you." Zolomon grumbled.

"I didn't imagine you would." Thawne commented, looking around the Time Vault and reminiscing on how he had built it himself to prevent S.T.A.R. Labs employees from knowing of it.

"From what I can remember," Thawne continued calmly. "Earth-2 never had an Eobard Thawne because Barry Allen never came close to becoming the Flash."

"Earth-2?" Zolomon asked.

"Yes." Eobard answered calmly. "Your world is often referred to as Earth-2. This one is called Earth-1."

"You should be more terrified, Eobard Thawne." Zolomon glowered.

"Really?" Thawne asked. "Because I believe that we can help each other."

Zolomon paused. "How?" He demanded.

"I know that you are going to discover the Flash's identity." Thawne responded. "You are going to steal his speed to repair the damage done to your body by the drug Velocity-9. This mad plan would result in your death and the Speed Force would mutate your body and use you as a disposable tool to hunt other speedsters."

Zolomon mulled this information over. "Good to know, time traveler, but I think I can handle myself. So instead of focusing on how you can help me, may I ask how I can help you?"

Thawne sighed, dissatisfied with the direction the conversation was taking.

"Fine." Thawne said. "There's a calamity coming that will destroy all speedsters, you included. But I have a plan, and if we work together, we can save ourselves from certain death."

Zolomon smiled. "I thought you said my death was already certain."

"Yes, but we can prevent that, the two of us." Thawne answered. He held out his hand in handshake position. "Are you interested?"

Zolomon considered it but smiled sickly. Working with other speedsters disgusted him. In fact, generally speaking, all people disgusted him. He supersped off and retrieved his Zoom suit, returning to face off against Thawne.

Thawne sighed. "I supposes that means you aren't interested."

"Oh, I'm interested." Zolomon responded. "How about instead of trying to steal the Flash's speed, I steal yours and come back and kill him?"

Thawne grinned wolfishly. "Well, you can try. But something tells me you won't be the thing that kills me." He pulled up his mask and began vibrating. "Let's race!" Reverse-Flash growled, running and phasing through S.T.A.R. Labs and into the city.

…

As Zoom gave chase to the Reverse-Flash, Zolomon couldn't help but admire how fast Thawne was. Zoom was having trouble even keeping the Man in Yellow within eyesight, much less catching up to and catching him.

As red and blue lightning streaked through the city, Zoom began to despair about ever catching Thawne and was about to end the chase when a red and yellow blur appeared in front of Thawne, effectively ending the chase. Zoom slowed to a stop a few feet behind Thawne.

Thawne continued to vibrate, and gasped. "Flash." He stated.

"Thawne?!" Flash demanded. "What are you doing here?" He pulled own his mask, revealing 2019 Barry Allen.

Thawne laughed, and stopped vibrating, pulling down his own mask.

"I was actually going to ask you the same question." Thawne responded.

"I felt him." Flash responded, gesturing to Zolomon.

"Who are you?!" Zoom demanded. "You are much older than the Speedster I saw earlier. Your suit is different, too."

"I'm the Flash." Barry answered simply. "Now, leave, Zolomon. This is between Thawne and I."

"Actually," Zolomon answered as Thawne watched with curiosity. "This is between Thawne and ME. You are the one butting in. Thawne is MINE!"

Zoom sped and attacked Barry in a flurry of moves, but surprisingly, Barry kept up with all of Zolomon's moves. That is, until Zoom clawed open Barry's chest, roaring like a primal beast. All of this Thawne watched with curiosity.

Barry collapsed to the ground, twitching. Zoom turned his attention back to the Reverse Flash.

"We can resolve this a different way, you know?" Thawne hopefully suggested. "You and I could make for a potent duo."

"Perhaps." Zoom admitted. "Although, I seem to be plenty potent without your companionship. So, I think you and I should end this."

Thawne curled up his lip in disgust. "On that, at least, we can agree." Thawne pulled up his mask and began vibrating.

"To the victor goes the spoils." Reverse Flash and Zoom attacked each other in a savage flurry of moves too fast for any but a speedster to see.

Zoom punched Thawne in the face, hard, and Reverse Flash stopped, feeling blood dripping down his face. Zoom brutally punched Thawne in the face half a dozen times, and the Reverse Flash crumpled to the ground.

…

Thawne woke up in a glass cage. There was a strange man in a metal mask in the cell opposite him, and for some strange reason, the man kept gently rapping on the glass walls of his cage.

In a cage set opposite of both of the glass cages, a young woman was chained to a wall. She kept crying and whimpering, her hair a mess and blood pouring down her face.

Suddenly, in a flash of blue lightning, Zoom appeared in front of Thawne's cage.

"Soon, your spirit will beak." Zoom intoned heavily. The girl whimpered and muttered "No, no, no."

"And then you'll attempt to steal my speed to repair the damage done to you?" Thawne guessed as the girl gasped.

"Father?!" The girl demanded. "Dad?"

"He is not your father!" Zoom snapped, turning his attention to the girl. "Just an unfortunate resemblance, Jesse!"

"Jesse?" Thawne asked. "Jesse Wells? Or Jesse Quick, perhaps?" The girl and Zoom stared at Thawne as he pulled down his mask and stood up, staring down the monstrous mask of Zolomon's.

"Which means the man in the other cage would be Jay Garrick, the Flash of Earth 3?" Thawne continued, reveling in knowing that he was once again the most well-informed person in the room.

The man in the mask stared up at Thawne.

"How did you know that?" Zoom aske cautiously.

"Time travel has a way of revealing the stories of your enemy to you." Thawne asked. He flexed his hands experimentally. Red lightning popped between his fingers.

"You will not be able to use your speed to escape the cage." Zoom warned viciously. "It blocks all connections to the Speed Force."

"Really?" Thawne asked, a creepy smirk beginning to fill his face. He experimentally began vibrating his molecules after pulling up his mask, and he walked forward, phasing through the glass wall of the cage.

Zoom stepped back, obviously shocked. "H-how?"

"Well," Reverse Flash muttered. "I would guess that this cage was meant to block positive connections to the speed force, and my connection is a little…negative." Red lightning coated the yellow surface of Thawne's suit as he raised his hand electrocuted Zoom.

Zoom crumpled to the ground and screeched as Thawne electrocuted the black suited speedster until the leather of Zoom's suit began smoking and steaming. Zolomon's screams died out, and Reverse Flash sped him inside the cage.

"I have been imprisoned for long stretches before." Reverse Flash growled. "And I promise it will never happen again. Good luck getting out of here, Hunter Zolomon, and I wish you the best of fortune in the battles to come. We would have made a glorious team, you and I." Thawne stopped vibrating and pulled his mask down.

He nodded his head in Garrick's direction.

"Don't worry, old sport." Thawne mocked. "You'll be freed from this cage sooner than you think. Just keep knocking away."

As Thawne began walking away, Jesse cried out "Dad?!"

Thawne paused. He turned his head, and was reminded so much of Nora West-Allen, his little runner, by Jesse.

"I am truly sorry, girl, but I am not your father." Reverse Flash admitted. "I'm just wearing a face that looks like his."

Reverse Flash ran away in a blaze of red lightning, unsure of how Jesse Well made him feel and disappointed that the most promising candidate, Hunter Zolomon, was a bust.

…

…

…To Be Continued?


End file.
